Placer Claim Mined Out?

[desertgolddigger]

I belong to a local club that owns a claim. This club has had this claim for many years, and acquired it after the old timers had mined it previously, and others after they commercial outfits closed up.
I walked quite a bit of the 160 acre claim, and noted that just about every wash had been worked. Most of the surface nuggets has also been detected by those with gold detectors. In other words, this place has been picked over and over and over.
But I m a stubborn type of person, and I figured, just watching how people ram their puffer and blower drywashers, that some gold was just being blown through them. maybe not much, but some small stuff that never got a chance to settle behind the riffles.
I know many of you would never go to the effort of digging for three to four hours through the tailings in these washes. Again, I'm a bit stubborn, and anyway, I just wanted to have some fun locally, instead of driving 300 miles roundtrip to something that gives a little more for less effort.
I've spent the last three weeks, digging a few times a week along about 30 yards of wash, and have recovered just about a gram of gold. That might not seem like much, but I have only dug up 5 grams, not counting this one gram in almost 20 years out here drywashing in the desert of southern California.
As you would know, things always seem to go wrong. My gas powered blower motor decided it was time for the repair shop, and haven't heard from the shop in two weeks. So I purchased a WORX WG521 corded electric leaf blower to use with my Royal Large drywasher. I'm using a portable generator to provide the power. And it actually is working better than with my old gas powered blower. I have to run the blower on the lowest speed, or I just blow everything through the riffles. Results are very good, as I am getting gold specks so small that I will have to use the Blue bowl in order to recover them.
I'm not only getting a little gold, I'm having some fun, and I am getting a good workout. I've lost 10 pounds since I started. So things are going well.
I'm still digging test holes around the old time hard rock mines in the hope I will find where the gold has drifted downhill below these mines. So far just a couple specks here and there. I figure I just have to move laterally one way or the other before I get something better Of course, I' don't really know if the old timers stripped the hillsides. Even if they have, they apparently aren't as thorough as I am. I hope that I may be lucky and find a larger piece of gold that the old timers, previous placer miners, and detectorists have missed.
Hope everyone is having as much fun as I have been having.

 

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[southfork]

Make your own mat maybe?

 

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[Jim in Idaho]

Here's another thought...Wilfley also made "slime" tables that had no riffles. For really fine, flaky gold that might be a good way to go, especially for a first attempt. Another thing to think about is building in a way to vary the table tilt...Both ways, so you can adjust as the table is operating. The way my original Wilfley lab table worked for front-to-back tilt was Wilfley had a single round bar the whole thing slid on for the back and forth motion. He rigged up a lever, with a threaded rod, and a crank, that allowed the tilt to be adjusted
as the table was working. The deck simply pivoted on the main rod. On the uphill slope from the feed end to the concentrate end, one of the experts said that you should have, for fine gold, about 1/4" of climb for each yard of table length.
Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Maybe I heard it wrong, but I remember in one video him saying ""6061 T6". If it was listed on his actual plan for download, I couldn't bring it up, as I don't have the software required to view it. But no biggie. I'll muddle through it. Builds like this usually take me ages to figure out, even if I did have a plan, and a parts list. I was trained as a communications operator when in the military, not a technician. Making things and getting them to work has always been difficult for me.

Look at his video of the table in operation...he talks about, and shows a written page about the material. I was a radar tech in the Air Force, so we have that in common. Also I think your idea of building a single-slope table, or "wave" table is a good idea. If I were going to build another table, that's what I previously decided I'd build.
Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Make your own mat maybe?

The problem with silicone is the high friction. For a shaker table you want to make it as easy as possible for the gold to move across the table. Wilfley used a rubber mat under the riffles, but painted the entire surface with a heavy paint, I assume to reduce friction as well as to protect the wooden riffles from the water. Ina sluice however, I can see some real benefits to using silicon.
Jim

 

[desertgolddigger]

Here's another thought...Wilfley also made "slime" tables that had no riffles. For really fine, flaky gold that might be a good way to go, especially for a first attempt. Another thing to think about is building in a way to vary the table tilt...Both ways, so you can adjust as the table is operating. The way my original Wilfley lab table worked for front-to-back tilt was Wilfley had a single round bar the whole thing slid on for the back and forth motion. He rigged up a lever, with a threaded rod, and a crank, that allowed the tilt to be adjusted
as the table was working. The deck simply pivoted on the main rod. On the uphill slope from the feed end to the concentrate end, one of the experts said that you should have, for fine gold, about 1/4" of climb for each yard of table length.
Jim

Sounds interesting, the Wilfley Table. Yes, I will be able to adjust my table using six knobs with threaded rods (bolts).
It is a push-pull type system so that I can tilt the table as much as about an inch in any direction. Those knobs are on the way, as well as the nuts they fit into. These nuts are glued in place as well as having spikes that stick into the wood.
Don't have any other way to do this, as I cannot work with large pieces of metal.

 

[desertgolddigger]

The problem with silicone is the high friction. For a shaker table you want to make it as easy as possible for the gold to move across the table. Wilfley used a rubber mat under the riffles, but painted the entire surface with a heavy paint, I assume to reduce friction as well as to protect the wooden riffles from the water. Ina sluice however, I can see some real benefits to using silicon.
Jim

Yes, I've read that you can make a table out of wood, including the riffles, and that you need to put two coats of sealer on every surface, and then paint it with a water resistant paint, though what kind of paint I don't know, enamel, acrylic, latex or what.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

That up and down problem is way overstated. In most cases, has minimal impact on recovery. I seriously doubt you'd see any difference. For fine gold on your table, you want a high speed, and short stroke. The total vertical movement, for a support length of 5", and a stroke of 5mm is only .024". The longer the support length, the less the vertical movement
Jim

You might have confuzzled me. Can you please show the math that ends with .024" ??

 

[Assembler]

Just asking how many pounds per hour and what kind of returns is there with this shaker process?

 

[Jim in Idaho]

You might have confuzzled me. Can you please show the math that ends with .024" ??

Not a big deal. 5mm of stroke is 2.5mm from the centerline. 2.5mm = .0984". The angle derived from .0984" on a 5" length is oops, I made a mistake...I had gotten 5.61 degrees. It's actually 1.127 degrees. That makes the vertical motion considerably less. So the cosine of 1.127 = .9998. Take the inverse of that, which is 1.000193632 and multiply it by the radius, which is 5". That gives you the hypotenuse, which is the distance to the end of the 2.5mm line drawn from the center. Subtract the radius (5) from that number, and you get the vertical motion, but not exactly because the hypotenuse is on an angle, But the actual motion is a tiny bit less than that number. That number is .000968162", or virtually nothing as far as gold recovery.
Jim

 

[desertgolddigger]

Not a big deal. 5mm of stroke is 2.5mm from the centerline. 2.5mm = .0984". The angle derived from .0984" on a 5" length is oops, I made a mistake...I had gotten 5.61 degrees. It's actually 1.127 degrees. That makes the vertical motion considerably less. So the cosine of 1.127 = .9998. Take the inverse of that, which is 1.000193632 and multiply it by the radius, which is 5". That gives you the hypotenuse, which is the distance to the end of the 2.5mm line drawn from the center. Subtract the radius (5) from that number, and you get the vertical motion, but not exactly because the hypotenuse is on an angle, But the actual motion is a tiny bit less than that number. That number is .000968162", or virtually nothing as far as gold recovery.
Jim

WOW! A mathematics Guru. I never was good beyond basic math. Anyway, I shouldn't need to worry about any elevation deviation with both linear rails, and motor. Still waiting on the things I ordered. I'm going to make my first shaker table a shallow grooved one, about 1/8 inch deep grooves, and sand in the exit slopes by hand. It should still work, but maybe not as well as with full length tapered 1/4 inch deep grooves.

 

[southfork]

Yes, I've read that you can make a table out of wood, including the riffles, and that you need to put two coats of sealer on every surface, and then paint it with a water resistant paint, though what kind of paint I don't know, enamel, acrylic, latex or what.

I was thinking about Por15 it sticks to everything including your skin. It will seal the wood but designed for metal this is from there web site. According to the POR-15 website, POR-15 Rust Preventive Coating can be applied to porous surfaces like wood. However, the coverage will be about 20%-25% less than that on non-porous surfaces like metal 1. This stuff is almost indestructible but shorter life in direct sunlight.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I was thinking about Por15 it sticks to everything including your skin. It will seal the wood but designed for metal this is from there web site. According to the POR-15 website, POR-15 Rust Preventive Coating can be applied to porous surfaces like wood. However, the coverage will be about 20%-25% less than that on non-porous surfaces like metal 1. This stuff is almost indestructible but shorter life in direct sunlight.

southfork, thanks a lot. Hopefully I only have to use it on the upper surface, and I can use varnish on surfaces not exposed to the flow of concentrates. I only plan on running what my big sluice catches for the first few use of the table. Want to make sure it actually works without having to try to looks through a silt fog in the water.

 

[southfork]

southfork, thanks a lot. Hopefully I only have to use it on the upper surface, and I can use varnish on surfaces not exposed to the flow of concentrates. I only plan on running what my big sluice catches for the first few use of the table. Want to make sure it actually works without having to try to looks through a silt fog in the water.

If you try this product make sure you use gloves. It takes weeks to wear off lol and use throw away brushes or buy the spray cans. I use it on car frames it's hardens like glass. There's also a lot of marine epoxy type coatings that will work.

 

[desertgolddigger]

It's been a pretty bad last three days financially for me. I returned home three days ago to discover a tag on my door from the water company, saying they turned off my water, and to call them.

The call resulted in them telling me I had used over 500 dollars of water in charges and over use fees. Apparently there was a leak of 2.7 gallons per minute.

So I got the leak detection company out because I couldn't find any wet spots on my property. They spent three hours trying to locate the leak unsuccessfully to the tune of $600 in charges for absolutely nothing found.

I then called the local plumber, who'd recommended the leak detection company, and had them come out yesterday. They found the leak, and today replaced my main line from the street, pressure control valve, and a sundry of other things to the tune of nearly $5000.

Needless to say I am devastate financially. I have months of yard repair that they did with their mini Bobcat tractor.

So tomorrow I'm going to take a break and go dig placer at the club claim just to unwind. Lately I've only managed a few hundredths of a gram per ton of material worked, but hopefully I might get luck this time around.

Additionally, my chain mill got metal fatigue on the housing, so I need to hire a welder to weld a thick metal plate over the 1/2 inch damaged area to keep it from spewing pulverized material through the hole. Probably another several hundred dollars at a minimum. But Just in case, I had to order another chain mill unit just in case the one I have isn't salvageable. I ordered the unit two days before my water problem. Wish I hadn't

I've been told these things happen in threes, so one more thing will put me in debt again, even more than I am now.

Guess you can see I need some kind of distraction

 

[Assembler]

Sad to hear this happening. I hope things get settled out and the problems get fixed.

 

[N-Lionberger]

I’m making my shaker table top out of ABS. I’m using some plans I got from Jim in Idaho for the table driver. I would recommend buying a welding machine over paying a welder.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

It's been a pretty bad last three days financially for me. I returned home three days ago to discover a tag on my door from the water company, saying they turned off my water, and to call them.

The call resulted in them telling me I had used over 500 dollars of water in charges and over use fees. Apparently there was a leak of 2.7 gallons per minute.

So I got the leak detection company out because I couldn't find any wet spots on my property. They spent three hours trying to locate the leak unsuccessfully to the tune of $600 in charges for absolutely nothing found.

I then called the local plumber, who'd recommended the leak detection company, and had them come out yesterday. They found the leak, and today replaced my main line from the street, pressure control valve, and a sundry of other things to the tune of nearly $5000.

Needless to say I am devastate financially. I have months of yard repair that they did with their mini Bobcat tractor.

So tomorrow I'm going to take a break and go dig placer at the club claim just to unwind. Lately I've only managed a few hundredths of a gram per ton of material worked, but hopefully I might get luck this time around.

Additionally, my chain mill got metal fatigue on the housing, so I need to hire a welder to weld a thick metal plate over the 1/2 inch damaged area to keep it from spewing pulverized material through the hole. Probably another several hundred dollars at a minimum. But Just in case, I had to order another chain mill unit just in case the one I have isn't salvageable. I ordered the unit two days before my water problem. Wish I hadn't

I've been told these things happen in threes, so one more thing will put me in debt again, even more than I am now.

Guess you can see I need some kind of distraction

really sorry about your financial problems. Keeping my fingers crossed you find a big hunk to solve them.
Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I’m making my shaker table top out of ABS. I’m using some plans I got from Jim in Idaho for the table driver.

I'm looking forward to the results of your build. That driver is the nuts! What size table are you making?
Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Anyway, I shouldn't need to worry about any elevation deviation with both linear rails, and motor. Still waiting on the things I ordered. I'm going to make my first shaker table a shallow grooved one, about 1/8 inch deep grooves, and sand in the exit slopes by hand. It should still work, but maybe not as well as with full length tapered 1/4 inch deep grooves.

I think you'll find those 1/8" deep grooves work just fine. As long as you can adjust everything, you can make it work, no problem. A shaker table isn't a piano. Most people that build them worry too much about tiny details. Most tables back in the old days were built by the carpenters at the remote mines. They just shipped in a Wilfley mechanism to drive them. Those mine carpenters, in most cases, were not highly skilled at making the tables, but the tables they made recovered most of the metals. Perfect tables are great, but plain old tables do a pretty good job.
Jim

 

[N-Lionberger]

I'm looking forward to the results of your build. That driver is the nuts! What size table are you making?
Jim

It’s 2’ by 4’ with diagonal slanted riffles and has built in catches for the concentrates I’m hoping to be able to separate many different materials with the table based on their weight. Not just separate the gold from the sand but also different weights of sands.